Bittersweet
by Blackjackxx
Summary: Percy had always known that demigods didn't live long, all he knew was that he wasn't going down without a fight. AU, character death. Set at the end of the second Titanomachy.


A fleet of several hundreds of ships was spread across the Manhatten shore. Kronos's army was preparing to wage war. Chiron paced the sandy beach, as Annabeth was deperately tracing a battle plan in the polluted sand. Many of the children from Camp Half-Blood prayed to their parents, begging them for help, but the Gods were too busy fighting their own battle up above in Olympus.

"Annabeth..." Percy called.

She rose to her feet and brushed the sand off her dirty, blood soaked jeans. They had been fighting this battle against Kronos for almost 3 days now without sleep. Annabeth's hair was matted and mud ridden, her clothes were torn and tattered and her usually bright eyes had lost their shine. But as Percy gazed upon her muddy face, he believed that she had never looked more beautiful. She smiled wearily, and slightly cocked her head to the right.

"Yeah?" She croaked, her throat dry from thirst.

"Almost all of Kronos' army is on those ships" Percy gathered "If I can destroy them, then this war would be ours" he reasoned.

"No!" Annabeth gasped, immediately realising what Percy was saying. "You're already weakened as it is" Percy had been stabbed in the back only a day earlier. "Using that amount of power, Percy, in your state, it would kill you!"

"I know". He whispered "But I have to. If they reach here, then we're all dead. There are kids here as young as eleven, and if they're killed, it will be my fault because I could have stopped it."

"Please Percy. Don't do this." She begged.

"I'm sorry, I have to" he muttered before walking over to Chiron.

LINE BREAK

Annabeth jogged after him as he explained his plan to the old centaur. Chiron sighed deeply, his feature sagging with age and grief, before reluctantly nodding his head.

"Chiron?!" Annabeth protested, her grey eyes filling with tears, "You can't let him do this! It's suicide!"

"I'm sorry, my child, but I must. It breaks my heart to do this, it truly doees, but I'm afraidthere is simply no other choice." Chiron explained in a shaky, uneven voice.

By now, tears were streaming freely down Annabeth's mud streaked cheeks.

"Percy..." she choked between heavy sobs as she buried her face in his chest. They kissed deeply, their tears mingling in a pool of sorrow and love. Words were not needed to express their love for each other; they had always known, their only regrets were that the kiss had come too late. It was bittersweet.

Percy's lips tasted of sea-water, although, that could have just been their tears.

"I love you Annabeth" He whispered hoarsely, "I always have, and I always will. I'll be waiting for you"

He gave her one last, sweet kiss before heading to the tides, standing as the only soldier on the frontline.

Silently, Percy called out to the sea, his oldest companion. He memorised every wave, every smell, every ripple of the vast oceans. The waves flowed stronger in joyous response to theit master's son. Percy felt the familiar tugging sensation in his gut, but it was much weaker than it once had been. Slowly, he mustered all of his strength and raised his evenly tanned, yet blood coated hands.

Percy let all of his power loose in one giant tidal wave.

Every half-blood stopped and stared in awe. Huge, fifty-foot waves crushed the enemy's battle ships. Whirlpools devoured them mercilessly, consuming them into the deep abyss of the seas. Tremors shook the earth around them, throwing many from their balance.

They all gaped in wonder as Percy single-handidly yet rapidly decemated Kronos' army of monsters. Even Chiron looked on in shock as he had no idea that young Perseus had _this _much power residing within him. If this was what he could do when he was weakened, then Chion shuddered at the prospect of what he could do at full strength.

Percy battled on, but slowly, a searing, agonising pain manifested in his head, growing in strength and spreading like a cancer. Blood dribbled from his nose, dropping onto the golden sand. He had almost defeated the fleet, but it was proving difficult to keep his concentration as his skull felt as if it was being split apart. Not even the blessing of the Styx could protect him from the onslaught of raw power he was releasing. His legs felt weak, unable to support his weight. As the last of the ships were detroyed, swept away by the powerful undercurrents of the ocean, Percy collapsed to the ground, the soft sand sinking beneath him.

Faintly, he heard Annabeth scream his name as he battled to remain conscious, or even alive. The pain in his head was still as tremendous as ever.

Annabeth galloped over atop Chiron's back before falling to the ground beside her childhood sweetheart. Gently, she lifted Percy's head onto her knees, stroking his raven mop of black hair. Silent tears fell from her stormy eyes.

"You did it." She whispered, her voice breaking. She interlaced her fingers with his.

Percy smiled at her, unable to find the strength to speak. A strange sense of calmness washed over him as he lay dying on the beach in the arms of the woman he loved.

"I love you, Annabeth Chase" he managed to mutter, blood pooling at the corners of his mouth.

"I love you too, Percy Jackson" she gasped between the deep sobs that racked her body. She lent down and gently kissed him, continuously weeping.

When she leaned back, Percy's sea-green eyes were still and lifeless, void of the passionate love they once burned so fiercely with. They stared at the grey skies that looked so much like his love's eyes, a single tear trailing from the corner of his own.

* * *

"No..." Annabeth sobbed as she gently rocked Percy's still body back and forth. Chiron had tears rolling down his forlorn face. A deep sorrow washed across the army of demigods as they mourned a friend, a brother and a son.

The crowds parted with haste as Poseidon came rushing down the beach, momentarily forgetting that he could teleport in his panic.

"Where is my son?!" he yelled. He had received a message from the messenger god not moments before that his son was, once again, doing something life threatening. Eventually, amidst his worrisome attitude, he spotted Chiron and a young girl leaning over a limp body.

"Oh, no" he muttered as he prayed to all higher powers that the body wasn't that of his son's. Chiron and the blonde child had failed to notice his presence, but as he drew closer, he noticed a familiar mass of black hair in the girl's arms.

Poseidon's ancient heart clenched in fear.

Chiron spun around at the sound of Poseidon's feet crunching in the sand. "I'm so sorry" the centaur spluttered, glancing down upon the lifless form that lay upon the beach. Slowly, the god of the seas walked around the weeping girl and was met with his son's dim eyes emptily staring back at him.

He knelt in the sand and touched Percy's cold, pale cheek.

Tears ran freely down Poseidon's tired face. He regretted not telling his son how much he loved him when he had the chance. He gazed out towards his seas, once that were now grey and mournful, and gould sense the hundreds of ships that littered on the sea bed. He looked back at the drying blood that was coming from his son's nose, and for a moment, he felt the excruciating pain that his son suffered in his final moments.

Annabeth and Poseidon sat silently on the damp sand, united and equal in each other's grief, until she finally spoke.

"Someone should tell his mother" her voice was hoarse and raw, and was struggling to avoid coming out in sobs.

Chiron opened his mouth to offer, but Poseidon cut across, "I will do it. It is the least I can do"

He looked to Annabeth, who closed her puffy eyes and nodded gravely. She reminded him greatly of Athena. She had the same vast intelligence and nobility in her burning grey eyes. Poseidon suspected that she was wise beyond her years.

Poseidon gave Percy one last painful look before teleporting to Sally's house. For a moment, she had not noticed him as she sat smiling and laughing with her new boyfriend, Paul Blofis, blissfully unaware of the chaos that ensued around them. In any other situation, perhaps Poseidon would have been jealous of the mortal, but his son's death weighed too greatly upon him for him to even begin to care.

Sally's ever-changing eyes glanced upwards, and she jumped when she saw Poseidon standing in the back of the room.

"Oh! H-Hello, Poseidon" she stuttered, a small blush coloring her cheeks. It was only when she truly looked, did she see the overwhelming despair in his eyes. Immediately she asked what was wrong. Paul politely excused himself from the room.

Poseidon stared at the floor for a while, attempting futily to gather his wits. when he raised his head, he was openly crying. Not a very god-like thing to do, but for once in his immortal life, he simply didn't care.

Sally made a little choking sound as her entire world came crashing down. She stood and stumbled over to the old god, gripping his shirt. Her eyes desperetely searched his sea-green ones, ones that looked so much like her son's, for any form of trickery.

"Oh gods" she sobbed when she found nothing but mourning in his eyes, "Please...Not Percy, not my baby"

Poseidon lowered his head, unable to looked at her agonized eyes any longer. "He's gone" Poseidon forced the words from his throat.

Sally wailed, a heart-breaking sound that only a mother's grief could cause, and began pummelling the ancient deity on the chest. "You were supposed to protect him! You promised...It was your only job! He's gone...my child is dead"

Poseidon held her tight until her heart-wrenching sobs died down to whimpers. Finally she lifted her head and muttered, "Take me to him"

Poseidon reluctantly nodded his head and teleported the two of them to the beach. Annabeth had yet to move. She looked as if she'd lost the will to live as she gazed upon Percy's unmoving eyes. Unadulterated pain shot through Poseidon's heart as he looked at his son's lifeless body. Chiron trotted to Annabeth and tried to remove her from Percy's body, but she simply refused to move.

Sally let out a sob before running to her son and collapsing to her knees next to him. Her hands gripped his blood splattered, filth ridden shirt as she shook him, as if she was trying to wake him up. Eventually she buried her head in his chest and wept.

Poseidon looked on in sorrow as he too, silently grieved. Gently, he closed Percy's eyes.

The seas turned and the skies shook with thunder an lightning as the god of the sea mourned his only child.

* * *

Poseidon gently lifted Percy into his arms, and walked down the beach.

At that moment, Zeus, Hades and Athena came crashing onto the beach in a flash of lightning. They were blissfully oblivious to Percy's death as they cheered of their victory. They came running down the beach, laughing and singing, but abruptly stopped when they saw the depair in Poseidon's face, and their eyes fell up his son's broken body.

"Brother..." Hades whispered. Poseidon's façade cracked as he fell to his knees, cradling his child in his arms.

Zeus knelt next to him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, knowing that he could do nothing to numb his pain.

Athena ran to comfort Annabeth without a second thought.

Chiron looked on in interest at how a death so tragic had brought the parents closer to their children. A chance Poseidon will never have.

"He died a great hero. He will be remembered amongst gods and mortals alike for all eternity." Hades tried desperately to comfort his younger sibling.

But his words felt hollow as Poseidon stared gazed at his son's peaceful face. In that moment, Poseidon would have traded all his powers, all his domains and his immortality to trade placed with Percy. He had had a great many other sons and daughters over the millennia, but none of their deaths were as painful as Percy's.

Percy is- was- special. He was his pride and joy, his little hero. And now he was gone, and Poseidon felt as if he had left him in a dark world of emptiness.

The gods and demigods raised their weapons in salute to their fallen savior.

Their greatest enemy may have gone, but so was Percy Jackson, and to many, life was simply not worth living.


End file.
